Three Habits Of Average People | Poko Virtuous | Mediocrity

Nigerian Media Entrepreneur and Motivational Speaker, Poko Virtuous writes about habits that make for mediocrity, being unable to achieve one’s goals, dreams, visions or targets. The writer pointed that, it is your habits that keeps you average (in the mediocrity race).

In the article, he explained that just about anyone can leave the mediocrity race, as they make wise use of their time, upskill and spend wisely.

Veteran Nigerian Writer, Poko Virtuous has written yet another article about average people. The 850-word article, captures the habits that make for mediocrity, as it exposes time-honored principles that can help you win over the enemy called mediocrity.

Do have an exciting read!

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit” – Aristotle

“First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they’ll conquer you”- Rob Gilbert

As I hold my pen to write this piece, waves of nostalgia sweep me back to my high school days; when I used to come either: 20^th, 23^rd or 26^th in a class of 32 students^. I used to get anxious and ask myself, ‘Isn’t there a way that I can also beat others and come top in the class? Believe you me, I later discovered the principles needed to achieve it – I’ve since been applying them in my life. The result? Mine has been the opportunity to move forward, stand out of the crowd.

If you’re  looking to exit the mediocrity race, come let’s check these out:

v Why Allow Trivialities Consume Your Time?

“They always say time changes things, but you have to change them yourself” – Haruki Murakami

The greatest mistake you’ll ever  make is to allow activities that don’t contribute to your success use up a substantial portion of your time. We become what consumes our time. Time used in any activity, is life formed in a particular direction. By using your time watching say, movie, your life takes the pattern of (1) being knowledgeable about it (2) you tend to remember their lines and want to act that way in reality.

Your time creates your life – your life can only move in the direction of what consumes your time. So, dear friend, how is it that you want to increase your sales figure, but spend little or no time learning about marketing/customer acquisition mechanisms? Your chances of achieving target are very thin, when you have trouble committing time to it.

The path to success or becoming an authority in what you do lies in scheduling your time around activities that will enhance your capacity  in that direction. I’ll like you to know that,  a decision to use your time wisely is a decision to become  useful. It doesn’t matter if it’s a close friend – if he wants you to always spend your time on things that would prove detrimental to your career; tell him you can’t go along with him.

Average people are persons who spend their time on activities that don’t build them career-wise – they use their time sleeping, when they should be cooking. The result? When they wake up there is no food prepared.

v He Thinks Less Of Upskilling

“Step out of the crowd of average people. Enter that game and change the values on the scoreboard” – Israelmore Ayivor

To step out of the crowd of average people, you’ll want to hone your skill.  A decision to improve on yourself, is a decision to leave the mediocrity race.

Say, all employees in your organization can use only word processing application, hence, you enrolled into a computer class and learnt; Exel, Powerpoint,  Photoshop and Corel Draw. Couple months later, your boss asked if any of you could design a flier for advert – you did the job when all others could do is to typeset – between you and others who is superior?

	Average people are persons who spend their time on activities that don’t build them career-wise

 

You are not better than others, but for your constant learning and upskilling. The more that you learn, the more attractive you become, if you’d take a decision to learn something new in your field, every three months, before long the difference would be clear.

Never settle for less. Not even when you think you are far better than all the people around you – still learn some more – look out for others more better than you. In the game of honing one’s skill, you’re always a winner – you’re never  a  looser! I’ll like to announce one bad news to you; if you don’t hone your skill, should you fail to upskill on your skillset, soon enough, you’ll be replaced with another more useful than you. By upskilling you save your career and organization – I trust you know your employer doesn’t want to run at loss. Save yourself today by upskilling.

v Scoring The Wrong Goals!

“In the long run  men hit only what they aim at” – David Thoreau

Just the way some people think amazes me – how is it that you used your last $100 to buy a trouser and expect to have as shoe along with it? Sounds absurd, huh?

In a similar vein, you cannot be spending your money on a course miles away from what you aspire to achieve, and still expect to see it manifest. If you’re looking leave the mediocrity race, you’ll want to spend your money on activities that can expedite your chances of actualizing your dream. Seek to know what is required of you to achieve that goal, then be all out in your spending to get it done. There is no easier way to meet target/dreams investing your every dime in that direction.

Dear friend, it’s key you realize that, the more you spend on things that aren’t supporting your long-term or short-term goal, the further you’ll be to achieving your  target. I would you realize that, seeing your dreams, plans and ambition become a reality is  more easy and closer than you’ve ever imagined. How so, Virtuous? You may want ask. Alright, I’ll be glad if you’ll answer these questions honestly.

·     How many times have you sacrificed for that vision of yours?

·     After you failed, how many times have you sacrificed for it again?

How many times have you deferred spending on it on the ground that the other is more pressing?

All this put together explains why you’ve not seen the dawn of your dreams.

In the final analysis, like legenday inventor, Henry Ford would  say, ‘mediocrity is the worst enemy of prosperity’. Failure to turn all these principles right side up, keeps you in the mediocrity race, hence, you’ve not been prosperous. If you’d love to emerge winner, it’s time to apply these principles!